A variety of situations exist in which it is desirable to “regionalize” a product, distinguishing that product from otherwise identical products elsewhere. Regionalization can allow a product to automatically configure related software, such as drivers and user manuals, to be displayed in a local language. Regionalization can help discourage the use of consumable items related to the product that are not intended for use in that region (due to non-compliance with local standards, or local intellectual property rights issues). “Regionalization” may also be used on a local scale to discourage theft of devices, such as within an organization or company, by configuring the devices to only accept consumables that are available from that organization or company.
Printers are an example of a product where regionalization is attractive. Printers are shipped worldwide, to many countries, to users of different nationalities. Many users in certain countries and regions have region-specific needs, such the need to have manuals and driver software programs that communicate in the local language. Failure to provide a local language interface can make it difficult for these users to properly operate the printer and to understand driver-generate messages.
One way to resolve this issue is to customize the printing systems—that is customize the printer hardware, driver software, and manuals to each country. This can add significant undesirable overhead costs for supporting the manufacture of printing systems unique to each country. Further, for manufacturing planning purposes, the demand of each individual country must be accurately predicted; otherwise, certain countries will experience either surpluses or shortages of printing systems resulting in either lost sales or excess inventory. There is thus a need for a regionalization system that allows products such as printers to be automatically configured to a particular region without unduly increasing production and distribution costs.
Another use for regionalization is the situation where consumable items, such as ink cartridges for printers, are not intended for distribution within certain regions. A particular ink cartridge design, for example, may contain an ink formulation for which the manufacturer does not own the local intellectual property rights, or which in some other way does not conform to local laws or standards (or there may be trademark issues related to the cartridge packaging). To help preclude the importation of the consumables into the region, it would be useful if the printers in the region in some manner declined to accept the cartridges.
A third use of regionalization is in a local setting, where an organization or company may own a large number of devices, such as printers, and wants to insure that the devices don't become targets for theft. It would be useful if the devices were “regionalized” to only accept consumables, such as ink cartridges, provided by the company or organization. If the devices were not usable with consumables from an outside source, the likelihood of theft would be reduced.
There is thus a need for methods and apparatus which allow manufacturers and distributors the ability to simply regionalize devices and consumable items utilized by the devices in a simple manner that does not incur undue manufacturing and distribution costs.